Why 2020 Democrats skipped AIPAC: Pro-Israel group is often the antithesis of progressive values (K_JeanPierre) | Opinion
In 2007, both Democratic presidential candidates attended AIPAC’s annual convention. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama even threw parties at the organization’s signature event, signaling their commitment to AIPAC and its values. This past weekend marked AIPAC’s annual convention in D.C., just 12 years later. Not one Democratic candidate for president showed.Because when it comes down to it, AIPAC’s policies are not progressive policies. AIPAC’s values are not progressive values.
Unfortunately, AIPAC’s policy and conference speaker choices aren’t its only problems. Its severely racist, Islamophobic rhetoric has proven just as alarming. The organization has become known for trafficking in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rhetoric while lifting up Islamophobic voices and attitudes. As we’ve seen over the course of the Trump administration’s tenure, words can prove just as destructive as laws. Anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rhetoric doesn’t simply sit in a silo.
In fact, 74 percent of MoveOn members who responded to our survey believe that any progressive vying to be the Democratic nominee for president should skip the AIPAC conference. What’s more, it’s clear that the progressive base writ large sees AIPAC as antithetical to progressive values. If it didn’t, why would every single Democratic candidate have felt comfortable skipping the conference ?
Instead of standing for progressive values, some Democratic members of Congress did just the opposite: they attended the conference and proceeded to bash the freshmen congresswomen who paved the way in identifying AIPAC as the obstacle to progress that it is. But disavowing AIPAC and skipping its conference isn’t anti-Semitic.
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